Rita C. Becht | Real estate agent, 84

Rita Carlin Becht, 84, of Paoli, a real estate agent on the Main Line for 40 years, died Tuesday of a pulmonary embolism at Paoli Memorial Hospital.

Mrs. Becht earned her real estate license in 1962, when her youngest child was in kindergarten. She sold houses for Robert Biggins Realtors, Roach Brothers Realtors, and Robert Bruce Realtors. She retired as an agent with J. Howard Brandt Realtors in Valley Forge in 2002.

She was an example to young women in the profession, said her daughter Joan Holloway. "She did her homework, treated her clients well, and enjoyed the camaraderie of her colleagues," Holloway said.

Mrs. Becht graduated from John W. Hallahan Catholic High School for Girls in Philadelphia and then worked for a business-forms company. She was working at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel in the summer of 1948 when Philadelphia hosted the Democratic National Convention.

A year earlier, she had married Joseph V. Becht. They met at a USO dance during World War II. He was a trumpeter in the Army band and she was the singer. The couple, who had three children, divorced in 1978.

Mrs. Becht enjoyed painting with watercolors and oils, and shopping with her grandchildren.

In addition to her daughter, she is survived by a second daughter, Karen Fogarty, and six grandchildren. A son, Anthony, died in 1997. Her former husband died in 1999.

A Funeral Mass will be at 11 a.m. today at Bruckman Chapel at Cabrini College, 610 King of Prussia Rd., Radnor. Friends may call at 10 a.m.